TANAH MERAH: A Year Five pupil here is believed to have fractured his left knee after being forced to do 'ketuk ketampi' (squats) by his teacher as a form of punishment.
The incident left the boy traumatised and afraid to return to school even though the school authorities have offered their apologies.
The boy's mother, who only wished to be known as Azlina, 36, said her son, who is the third of four siblings, had initially sustained a fracture at the knee after falling down while playing football three months ago.
She said a scan at a private clinic showed a clear fracture. The doctor has advised her son not to do any strenuous physical activities.
"He also missed many classes due to his injury. I had also updated his teachers on his condition," she said.
Azlina said the latest incident was on January 8, when her son missed school due to a bout of diarrhoea. She said she informed the teachers of the matter in a WhatsApp group.
"However, my son and several other students were summoned the next day for missing school. They were ordered to 'ketuk ketampi' for 30 times as a form of punishment," she said.
Azlina said her son, whose knee was still healing, was unable to complete the squats and complained of pain.
His claims, however, were ignored by the teacher, who instead punched him in the chest after accusing him of lying.
Later that day, at 10.3am, the family received a phone call from the school, asking them to fetch the boy as he had complained of pain in his knee.
Azlina's father went to fetch his grandson and was shocked to see the boy in bad shape. He even had to carry the boy to his motorcycle.
"Later that night, he complained of more pain and I wanted to bring him to the hospital. However, the school authorities asked me to postpone the visit as he had an exam coming up.
"Soon after, a representative from the school came to apologise and admit that they had been too rough with him. They also handed over a sum of money as a contribution," she said.
Azlina said that on January 22, she brought her son to the Tanah Merah Hospital. The doctors there referred him to the Raja Perempuan Zainab II Hospital in Kota Bharu, where he underwent surgery," she said.
She said even though the incident left her son traumatised, the family did not wish to make the issue bigger than it is. However, she admitted to being disappointed after hearing rumours claiming that the school was not to blame for the incident.
She said she would be lodging a police report soon on the incident to prepare for any possibility.
"It's just a way of safeguarding our interests and not to land anyone in trouble. We were made to understand that the teacher in question has been transferred to another primary school in the district," she said.